WASHINGTON - Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday named Representative Steve Israel of New York to lead the House Democratic campaign committee into the next election, putting him in charge of the party's effort to regain the majority it lost in November. ...

To the Editor: Thomas L. Friedman is right about the link between national security and foreign oil dependence, but I disagree when he says the solution is a gasoline tax ''to compel Americans to buy more fuel-efficient vehicles.''

Two New York congressmen yesterday urged the State Department not to let the Bush administration's anti-abortion policies hinder aid to South Asia, especially to an estimated 150,000 pregnant women in tsunami-torn regions. Congress appropriated $34...